Cable viewers love them some Fox

posted at 12:40 pm on July 1, 2011 by Tina Korbe

As usual, the Fox News Network dominated cable ratings for the second quarter. That’s the 38th straight quarter of Fox dominance, going back to the first quarter of 2002.

Of the top 30 cable programs, the top 12 air on Fox — and the No. 15 slot is filled with a Fox show, as well. “The O’Reilly Factor” once again captured the top slot — and the 11 p.m. repeat of the show ranks eighth. “Hannity” and “Special Report with Bret Baier” round out the top three.

“Fox and Friends” was up 8 percent year over year in adults 25 to 54, beating MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and CNN’s “American Morning” combined.

Some top talkers like Chris Matthews and Joy Behar — infamous for making news as often as reporting it — draw in a surprisingly small number of viewers. Matthews, whose program ranked 20th, has just 698,000 viewers, while “The Joy Behar Show,” which ranked 30th, attracts a thin 488,000. Compare that to O’Reilly’s 2.824 million viewers (add another 1.246 million for his repeat) or Hannity’s 2.043 million.

Also of note: MSNBC exhibited steady ratings in the wake of Keith Olbermann’s exit and HLN’s non-stop coverage of the Casey Anthony trial boosted its ratings considerably.

These rankings obviously don’t include network news, which still carry an arguably undue amount of weight. But the list of popular cable news programs and Fox’ ongoing popular appeal hint at just how hungry the public has been and continues to be for reporting and commentary that tells both sides of the story and grants the conservative perspective at least as much credence as the liberal worldview.

Blowback

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A network designed in the Nixon white house as a propaganda outfit is effective at propaganda? Color me shocked!

ernesto on July 1, 2011 at 12:41 PM

Well, MSNBC, ABC, NBC and CBS clearly aren’t very effective at their propaganda. That, or maybe no one likes either the message OR the messengers. The fact that a DB like Bill O’Reilly crushes your liberal talkers must really hurt.

Actually FDR was one of the first people on TV. The National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) was RCA’s broadcasting wing. It began regular U.S. television broadcasting on April 30, 1939, with a telecast of President Franklin D. Roosevelt opening the New York World’s Fair.

Actually FDR was one of the first people on TV. The National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) was RCA’s broadcasting wing. It began regular U.S. television broadcasting on April 30, 1939, with a telecast of President Franklin D. Roosevelt opening the New York World’s Fair.

Tommy_G on July 1, 2011 at 1:04 PM

kingjester was of course referring to this:

“When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed,” Biden told anchor Katie Couric on the CBS Evening News. “He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened.’ ”

The only problem is that FDR was not the president when the stock market crashed. Herbert Hoover was. The second problem is that television was not widely available during the October 1929 market crash, and the dominant means of communication at the time was the radio.

FDR did not take office until 1933, and many in the general public did not see televisions until the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City. At that time, FDR delivered the first presidential address on television – nearly 10 years after the stock market crashed.

Once again, you’ll hear cries from the left for putting the (un)fairness doctrine back in. Liberals can’t compete in the open market.
You know, in a FREE world, people should choose what they want. I could care less what MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS has on the air, I just don’t care for it, I just don’t watch it. Do I protest that they air what they do? Nope, I could care less who watches those shows. THAT is the difference between conservatives & liberals. Conservatives say play what you want, liberals say only play what WE want you to see/hear.

Fox has been moving left, right in front of your eyes, if you open them.

See just Britt Hume, lately.

Schadenfreude on July 1, 2011 at 12:49 PM

I have definitely noticed, and was quite surprised by Brit.

silvernana on July 1, 2011 at 1:07 PM

I’ve noticed, and many others here have commented that Fox News seems to have been ‘managed’ in being pushed left starting late last year. Right around the time that the progs were pushing an advertising strike on Beck’s show and Fox News had a meeting with the Nazi stooge George Soros, I saw changes. I suspect that Ailes or Murdoch came down on them and ordered them to moderate wrt the shows that are commentary. Little Bammie’s documentation problem for instance seems verboten.

Little Bammie’s thuggery does work to some extent. We see companies towing the line on his policies, terrified to speak out on Obamacare, Crap and Trade, Card-Check, etc. We will also see Wall Street giving to his reelection even though they hate the sob.

Through history, thuggery works for a time, and it is working for little Bammie.

looks like Foxnews is dropping viewers. anyone got year to year numbers. I was thinking BOr was pulling in avg of 3.5million last year. BOR lost 750,000 viewers year over year? that doesn’t seem right. Anyone got the figures to see if my memory is correct?

Hi Dire! Slowly improving, but still no weight-bearing(walking), but am starting therapy. I’m so tired of laying in a hospital bed in my living room and being in a wheelchair. But again, I am lucky to just be here, so I hate to complain much. My poor hubbie is worn out caring for me, but he does a wonderful job. Thanks for asking.

When half of a market was unserved–the conservative half–it didn’t take a genius to come up with a moneymaking solution.

RBMN on July 1, 2011 at 1:12 PM

The funny thing is, there is still only one moderately conservative network. Why don’t the owners of MSNBC create a conservative equivalent of MSNBC? There’s a marketing opportunity there for a network to the right of Fox News that you could drive Air Force One through.

Let’s be honest, a part of Fox News success is simply due to the fact that they have a monopoly on non-liberal news.

looks like Foxnews is dropping viewers. anyone got year to year numbers. I was thinking BOr was pulling in avg of 3.5million last year. BOR lost 750,000 viewers year over year? that doesn’t seem right. Anyone got the figures to see if my memory is correct?

unseen on July 1, 2011 at 1:29 PM

All of Fox News had very inflated numbers in January to March 2010 because of the Obamacare vote. It is all related to the news cycle. TheBlaze had a good article on this yesterday. I’ll see if I can find a link.

I think Fox News is headed for some bad numbers. With their new 5 pm program followed by Brett, Shep, and O’reilly, that’s definitely a 4 hour block I won’t be watching. Plus watching Hannity once a week is plenty, since he repeats himself so much. Greta was the only evening Fox show I enjoy, but that ends when she does her voyeur shows.

looks like Foxnews is dropping viewers. anyone got year to year numbers. I was thinking BOr was pulling in avg of 3.5million last year. BOR lost 750,000 viewers year over year? that doesn’t seem right. Anyone got the figures to see if my memory is correct?

unseen on July 1, 2011 at 1:29 PM

Most likely because people can’t afford the cable bill, so they cancel it. No cable, no Fox. No viewers.

And that hold true for any cable network. Of course, this depends on your local cable provider and what they provide as a package (basic, premium, platinum, unobtainium, Obamium, etc..)

For me, I could no longer stomach paying $300+ per month for cable and internet access through COMCAST. So I dropped down to the package just above basic and reduced the internet to “unblazingly fast” connection speed. Like I care about that. I don’t do movies or TV on the computer.

A network designed in the Nixon white house as a propaganda outfit is effective at propaganda? Color me shocked!

ernesto on July 1, 2011 at 12:41 PM

How stupid art thou?

The channel was created by Australian-American media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who hired former NBC executive Roger Ailes as the founding CEO. The channel was launched on October 7, 1996 to 17 million cable subscribers.

On April 22, 1994, Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th President of the United States, died

Thanks from the article it looks like Jan 2010 was a big bump and fox news has lost viewers every month since than until they are now getting less numbers then they did in 2009.

While I’m prepared to say the story is correct about the helthcare bill driving the ratings it doesn’t explain the drop off voer the next year. After all in Nov 2010 we had a very big election.

and it seems that with Beck’s leaving foxnews just lost one of their best rated shows. I think Ailes blew the Beck thing. But he has been blowing a lot of calls lately. It hink the power of the Tea party scared him and threatened the power and influenced of the establishment.

Can you imagine what this country would be like today if it weren’t for FNC?

petefrt on July 1, 2011 at 2:11 PM

I think that something like Fox would have come about anyway.

Idiots like ernesto call media outlets they don’t agree with “propaganda outlets” that mold people’s minds but they’re actually the opposite: outlets that, for the most part, reflect the values, views, and aspirations of their viewers.

Fox is successful not because they created a market but because they meet that’s market’s needs.

Actually FDR was one of the first people on TV. The National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) was RCA’s broadcasting wing. It began regular U.S. television broadcasting on April 30, 1939, with a telecast of President Franklin D. Roosevelt opening the New York World’s Fair.

Tommy_G on July 1, 2011 at 1:04 PM

For the American market.

Now for the inevitable Godwin’s Law:
Hilter had the 1st international TV broadcast at the opening ceremonies of the 1936 Olympics. Unfortunately for him, he also broadcast Jesse Ownes’ famous race on live TV. Moral of the story for Goebbels is not to do live TV unless you know the outcome, other than that, the Nazis had “great” plans for TV as a propaganda tool. Doesn’t surprise me that MSNBC, nee NBC, would do old Joe proud — all three of them, to include Stalin & Biden.

specialreport is my favorite by far in that block…wouldn’t mind john stossel or red eye in the 5pm slot
cmsinaz on July 1, 2011 at 1:48 PM

If all you want is a recap of the news already covered on the blogs, then specialreport is your show. I usually just watch the last 20 minutes to see if Charles or Stephen Hayes has any interesting insight. Should be a law against calling the rest of the panelists all-stars.